


Preparation is the Key

by still_lycoris



Category: Blake's 7
Genre: F/M, Manipulation, Pre-Series, Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-29
Updated: 2014-12-29
Packaged: 2018-03-04 04:43:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,412
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2950583
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/still_lycoris/pseuds/still_lycoris
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Anna plans her first meeting with Kerr Avon most carefully.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Preparation is the Key

Anna had prepared it all very carefully.

She had taken everything into account. Everything had to give off the perfect impression of what she needed to project. The wrong dress, the wrong words and she might ruin everything before she had even started. 

Of course, it couldn’t _look_ selected – that was something all of them learned to avoid very quickly. Some of her targets were too stupid to notice anything but Kerr Avon was clever. She was pretty certain he’d already fooled the Federation a few times, that the crime she sought to uncover would only be one of them. 

This time would be his last.

She attended the meal with her “patron”, another security agent, of course. He didn’t know anything except that they were to stage a small argument part way through and that he was to leave immediately after. It was perhaps a little more caution than was required but Anna was determined. Kerr Avon was _her_ run and she intended to be the one who brought him in, alone.

The meal was fairly dull and Anna suspected that their faked squabble – all done in carefully practised tones, sounding as though they didn’t want to be heard but actually making sure they were, just in case anybody needed to confirm the story – probably livened it up. At the right moment, she turned on her heel and stalked out of the room, apparently to find somewhere private to compose herself. She strode down the corridor with swift, neat steps and picked a door entirely at random.

Of course, it wasn’t at random. The whole building was monitored. She knew exactly how long before her that Kerr Avon had entered the room.

She closed the door behind her, just the right amount between a slam and just shutting it firmly, then turned round and started slightly as she spotted the man in the corner, kneeling beside one of the panels.

“Oh! I’m so sorry – I didn’t realise anybody was in here!”

He looked at her for a moment. Anna wondered what he was taking in. Was he consciously noticing that her hair was fluffy and loose instead of short and slick, the current Federation style? Did he notice the dress she wore was just a little faded and worn, as though she’d brought it second-hand from somewhere and treated it very carefully? Or did he just see a woman with tears in her eyes who had stupidly blundered into his work space?

“It’s quite all right,” Kerr Avon said, voice cool. “Guests are allowed anywhere they choose. Would you like me to leave?”

“Oh, no, please don’t. I feel terrible, interrupting your work like this. Please, just carry on, I’ll be out of your way, I just … needed to get away from all those people for a moment.”

He half-nodded to her then turned back to his open panel, shoulders stiff. Anna stepped a little closer and leaned against the table. Even though he wasn’t looking at her, she wiped her eyes and blotted her cheeks a little – do everything in character when with the mark was one of the first lessons she’d ever learned. Even a tiny slip could ruin everything if the wrong person saw you. She put away her tissue and looked casually at the panel he had open.

“Oh, you’re fixing the climate controls?”

He looked at her, obviously surprised that she knew what he was doing. Anna allowed a small blush to cross her cheeks, as though slightly ashamed to have revealed such a thing.

“Not many people would know what this panel meant,” Kerr Avon said.

“I … well, I … I know a lot,” she pretended to flounder, showing obvious discomfort. Let him think he’d worked out her secret; that she’d risen a grade or two somehow, worked low, dirty jobs before she got good enough to come to a nice party like this. Let him feel clever for learning about her without her telling him. Let him think they had something in common, both working hard to leave their pasts behind them.

“Knowledge is always useful,” Kerr Avon said, his voice slightly gentler than before – at least, Anna assumed that was what the tone meant. It was a little difficult to tell but she’d known it would be. Kerr Avon didn’t do emotions.

“That’s what I’ve always thought,” she said, allowing her tone to be that of obvious relief. “I do like to understand things. Is there something wrong with it or are you just doing routine checks?”

“There has been an intermittent fault for some time that I have been trying to fix,” Kerr Avon said. “I believe I have tracked it down to this console, although it is difficult to be certain. I’m just trying a few tests now.”

“I bet that’s been difficult to do. You’ve isolated the first circuit board, haven’t you? Oh yes, of course, there’s the light … ”

She moved closer, made to crouch down. Kerr Avon held out a hand.

“You’ll ruin your dress,” he said, rather stiffly.

Anna pretended to remember what she was in, looked down at herself in embarrassment. Then she looked up again and tossed her head.

“Oh, I don’t care. What does it matter anyway? Using _clothes_ to try and look like _them_. As if anybody with half a brain couldn’t see I didn’t belong!”

She kept her voice sharp, cold. He didn’t want to hear whining or sadness. He wanted her to be tough, like he was. Pain simply made you stronger.

“You do well,” Kerr Avon told her quietly. “Don’t assume their intelligence is greater than it is. You should change your hair though. Your hair makes you look wrong.”

She gave a sigh and sat beside him. Not too close. He needed his space.

“Oh, I know. It’s sentiment – my brother has always liked it long. I don’t know why I care, we hardly ever get to see each other but he smiles to see it and he always jokes about it takes a lot to make Del Grant smile! Blackmail, I know.”

A flicker in his eyes, only noticeable if you were looking for the reactions that you hoped to create. Kerr Avon knew who Del Grant was, of course, knew Del could potentially be useful to him. It gave him the excuse to push past his natural recalcitrance, talk to her a little more. He could pretend to himself that he was only meaning to use her for as long as he needed to and as he pretended, she would be easing herself deeper and deeper into his life.

“He’s right. It looks nice long.”

His voice was stiffer than ever. She laughed and shook her head.

“Well, thank you, I suppose. What’s your name?”

“Kerr Avon,” he said, sounding even more awkward than before. She smiled at him.

“I’m Anna.”

“I … should finish my work,” he muttered, turning away from her. Anna hugged her knees to her, looking at him as his fingers flicked smoothly over the controls, finishing his diagnostic and closing the panel up. He behaved as though he was completely unaware of her watching him, although she knew that he was. Knew he was thinking, plotting, planning. Knew that what she did next was vital.

“Are you … almost finished?” she asked, allowing herself to sound a little uncertain.

“Yes. Why?”

“I … I really don’t want to go back to the party. It’s so _boring_ and to be quite honest, it’s pointless anyway. It won’t give me what I want. I wondered … would you like to come and eat with me?”

He looked at her, eyes narrowed. Anna stared back.

“Why would you want to?” he asked her, not bothering to hide the suspicion in his voice.

“Honestly?” she asked. “Because tonight has been a failure from start to finish so far. Everything I meant to do, I’ve made a mess of. I _hate_ failing. You’re the most interesting person I’ve talked to in _days_ and I just want an evening of half-decent conversation with a meal I can stand!”

He laughed. It was actually a rather nice laugh, a laugh that suggested he knew exactly what she meant.

“Why not?” he said, closing the panel with a snap. “I can’t promise the conversation. I am assured that I am dull in casual chat.”

“Oh,” Anna said, getting to her feet and hiding all of her inward triumph. “I’m sure we’ll find _something_ to talk about.”

**Author's Note:**

> Written for 12dayschristmas 2014.


End file.
